This provision has been written to apply to the entire act. Singling out air quality or chemicals management.... They may be the issues of today, but this act is meant to last for a long time. The idea was that it creates an implementation framework that applies to the entire act.
On air quality in particular, that is an area of shared jurisdiction. Provinces, territories and the federal government work collaboratively right now under the air quality management system, which was agreed to in 2012, when jurisdictions agreed on various responsibilities.
To suggest that the federal minister can fix the problem unilaterally is not appropriate in a collaborative system.